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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HIRAM POWERS' GREEK SLAVE, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: They say ideal beauty cannot enter
Last Line: By thunders of white silence, overthrown.
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Powers, Hiram (1805-1873); Sculpture & Sculptors
First Line: They say ideal beauty cannot enter
Last Line: By thunders of white silence, overthrown.
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Powers, Hiram (1805-1873); Sculpture & Sculptors
THEY say Ideal beauty cannot enter
The house of anguish. On the threshold stands
An alien Image with enshackled hands,
Called the Greek Slave! as if the artist meant her
(That passionless perfection which he lent her,
Shadowed not darkened where the sill expands)
To so confront man's crimes in different lands
With man's ideal sense. Pierce to the centre,
Art's fiery finger, and break up ere long
The serfdom of this world. Appeal, fair stone,
From God's pure heights of beauty against man's wrong!
Catch up in thy divine face, not alone
East griefs but west, and strike and shame the strong,
By thunders of white silence, overthrown.
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